But as General Motors today reaches the century mark, the world's largest automaker is mostly looking ahead, trying to convince consumers, dealers, Wall Street analysts and others who depend on GM's health that the storied company has a bright future.

GM's U.S. market share is less than half the 50 percent it enjoyed in the 1960s.

The automaker has lost nearly $70 billion since 2005.

And many analysts have said GM could go bankrupt if those losses continue.

"It may never have been more important for people to see how the company is moving to the future," said GM spokesman Bill O'Neill, who led a four-year planning effort for the automaker's 100th anniversary.

After studying centennial celebrations of such companies as Ford Motor Co. and Harley-Davidson Inc., GM decided on a year-long educational and public relations strategy called GMNext that is largely Internet based.

Jeffrey Sauger | For General MotorsGeneral Motors Vice President Global Design Ed Welburn (left) and Chevrolet North America Vice Ed Welburn introduce the all-new Chevrolet Cruze at a media preview Monday, September 15, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan. The Cruze, a brand new four-door coupe will make its official introduction at the Paris Motor Show next month. The Cruze will go on sale in Europe in March 2009, followed by other global markets.

The automaker is planning a day-long Webcast (www.gmnext.com) today in which it will unveil the production version of its Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid designed to travel 40 miles on an electric motor before a Flint-built gasoline engine kicks in to charge the lithium-ion batteries.

GM and some industry experts say a successful implementation of the Volt could usher in a new era of electric-powered vehicles that might keep GM from being thrown on the scrap heap of hundreds of once-proud automakers such as Packard, Hudson and American Motors.

"It's so dramatically significant, it changes the world," said Center for Automotive Research Chairman David Cole, whose late father, Ed Cole, was GM's president from 1967 to 1974.

Innovation has long been a hallmark of GM, which claims a truckload of industry "firsts," including the first engine electric self-starter, the first automaker to have an in-house design studio and, for better or worse, the first tail fins.

It's difficult to overestimate the impact GM, which was once considered the most powerful corporation in the world, has had on American life.

GM's influence extended well beyond the auto industry into such areas as medicine, space exploration and national defense.

The automaker developed the first heart pump, allowing surgeons to conduct open-heart surgery. It built the mobility system for the lunar land rover, which astronauts used to explore the moon's surface.

And during World War II, GM was the largest supplier of vehicles and weaponry to the Allied forces.